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Saturday, October 21, 2017

I’m so used to either pastels or brights even pink or blue baby quilts, that I was totally out of my comfort zone when my girlfriend requested a modern grey and white only baby quilt. No Applique or any other colours so I started thinking...what should I do.

They say simple is best so I went for s herringbone pattern with a soft grey with white crosses teamed with a solid white. A very simple straight line quilting completed the look and I must admit, I was very happy with the end result. My first modern quilt!!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

It’s so nice to get my finished quilt, Foxley Village, back from the talented Mandy who does my quilting.

What a stunner this project has turned out to be. A monthly project that was featured in Homespun Magazine last year made with Tilda fabric and comprised of both appliqué and machine pieced blocks.

I am still sewing on the binding but you can see how lovely this quilt is.

Take a closer look at Mandy’s wonderful quilting, there is so much variety in patterns, I could look all day and still find a different one.

Just look at the difference the quilting makes.......

Quilted Block

Original Block

I’ve already made space on the wall for this one as I think it’s nice to display my quilts rather than hide them away, after all they end up costing a lot both in money and time.

If you ever think you can’t do a quilt like this, I suggest a BOM with a friend as each month you help each other with problems and ensure you finish on time and before you know it you’ve made a whole quilt over a 12 month period.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Each Christmas, I buy myself a Block of the Month for the coming year. This years project is by Annie Downs, and its called - Dancing Chickens & Flying Pigs.

Its a 12 block quilt/wall hanging worked on a Linen background with felted Wool shapes and embroidery. I am loving working with the Wool (no need to worry about turning under the applique pieces). By using matching wool or DMC threads, a simply applique stitch and viola......its done....easy really.

I love my first 6 blocks, the colors and textures are just so lovely and I can't wait for my next package to arrive....stay tuned to see the rest of the blocks.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

I must apologise for not keeping up with the blog world, but life gets hectic sometimes (as you well know) but I'm still enjoying my quilting and sewing.

Here's the latest block that I've finished for my Homespun Foxley Village project.

Just loving the Tilda fabric, I would never have selected some of the colour combinations but there you go,.... they work !!! Just goes to show that just because you wouldn't choose it, doesnt mean it wouldn't work Sometimes its nice to just do and you are told and you get a very pleasant surprise.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Been a bit slack with my blogging lately, too much talking and not enough sewing !!

I love to try new techniques, and when I was visiting the beautiful Mill Rose Cottage late last year, I picked up some Sashiko embroidery panels. The lines are pre-printed onto the panel and all you do is stitch using a running stitch.

I used a Sashiko thread which is similar to a Perle Cotton, in a bright white colour to highlight the lovely pattern. There are also special long needles that you should use but I found my embroidery needles did the trick.

You can see that I haven't embroidered all the outside crosses, as I am thinking of attaching a border and maybe even adding more panels for a table runner.

Now why not pop across to Martina at Sunshine Quilting and have a look at the other works of art that the lovely bloggers have done. Always inspirational

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

I always like to do a baby quilt for my family and friends when they become parents or grandparents. I really wanted to try using minki fabric as the backing, but have been terribly afraid because of the stretch, but after reading up on how to sew it, I decided to give it a go.....

Using a pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew , I gathered my scraps of pink fabrics and teamed them with a plain Emma Louise white.

To add something different, I bordered the edges with grey dot material.

I was most afraid how to quilt the top with the minki. Using my walking foot, I sewed straight crossed lines fairly wide to keep a nice soft feel.

I thought it was lovely and soft but then I washed it and wow it came up even softer than before. Now I think I will do all the babies quilts with the minki on the back.....so cuddly.

I think it turned out beautifully and it's off to its new owner next week. I'm sure she will love it!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hooray .......joining the Sunshine Quilting Patchwork and Stitchery SAL 2016' has pushed me to finish a project that I had started in December.

Adding color to embroidery adds that extra zing to the finished project, and Jo from Gemelli Girls (check them out on Facebook) showed us how to combine coloring pencils and embroidery to achieve a beautiful result permanently!

First of all, we painted a small section of our printed embroidery pattern with a fabric medium

Then we colored that section in using Derwent Inktense pencils which actually have ink in the leads

Once the whole embroidery is colored and stitched, you iron the piece which sets the color permanently. You have the option to embroider first then color in or vice versa.

Add the border and hanging sleeve and it's ready to display

This ones ready for next Christmas and I'm thinking I might go over some of my old embroideries and color them too.